The present invention relates to telecommunications terminals and terminal blocks, and more particularly to improved insulation-displacing terminals capable of automatically penetrating through insulation to connect to wires of widely varying gauges, and of making such connections to multiple wires in a single terminal connection. The invention further relates to such improved terminals and terminal blocks in which protective circuitry may be directly incorporated as an integral, incremental, and cost-effective part of the connection itself.
Terminal design for the telecommunications industry is a subtle and challenging art which continues to receive a great deal of attention. Thousands upon thousands of connections are made and changed every day, some not to be touched again for decades. It is therefore important not only to minimize labor, manufacturing, and installation costs, but also to provide terminals which have the greatest electrical and physical integrity for the widest range of applications and environments. The less wire preparation which the installer must do, the better. The fewer terminal designs and sizes, the better. However, since wire sizes vary from 181/2 gauge copper coated steel (F-drop) to 26 gauge single strand copper, with significant differences in insulation thicknesses and characteristics, this challenge has not been easy to fulfill. For example, insulation displacing connectors (IDC's) are commonly incorporated into terminal designs to reduce installation labor by eliminating the need for the installer to strip the wire. However, the telecommunications industry uses such a broad range of gauges and insulation thicknesses that it tends to limit the range in which IDC's can be used successfully. Also, IDC's can usually accept only one wire connection at a time. Further, wires which must be stress-relieved typically require separate provisions for this purpose apart from the IDC. Likewise, when current/voltage protection is required (as per industry standards), additional terminal complication is introduced beyond the IDC itself.
A need therefore remains for improved methods and apparatus for connecting insulated conductors to terminal blocks, and in particular for such methods and apparatus which can effectively make such connections for a very large range of wire gauges, without the need to remove the wire's insulation in advance, which can do so simultaneously for several conductors of different gauges, which can provide stress relief for each such wire, which can provide circuit protection as needed, which can be reused repeatedly, and which can standardize production and utilization configurations to minimize costs and maximize versatility. The invention should be durable, reliable, economical to manufacture, and thus readily suited for utilization in the widest range of telecommunication applications.